Posts Tagged ‘PC’

Sod history: in Saboteur the Irish ended World War 2. Or rather, a single Irish chap working for the French Resistance, screwing up the Nazi’s efforts in Paris with a bag of weapons, a cheeky grin, and the worst Irish accent known to man.

Sean Devlin, the Saboteur, seems to defy classifications as a hero. From his nimble acrobatics – he can climb much of the environment, and leap over beams with ease – you may think he’s a free running action hero in the vein of Assassin’s Creed’s Alter. From his stealthiness you might surmise he prefers lurking in the shadow to kicking Nazis in the balls (wrong again), and from the game’s huge, open world you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a straight GTA clone. Saboteur offers an unusual, and effective, blend of genres.

Regardless of the pigeonhole, being Sean Devlin is plenty of fun. In our latest hands on session, we had to escape captivity of stealth killing Nazis, clambering up Old Persian buildings and shooting through swathes of goons. But it could have been different. Tire of stealth and you can quite happily get through most sections in open combat, thanks to a simple cover system and the ability to soak up a few hits.

When it comes to comic book games, fan service is essential, Ultimate Alliance 2 takes its plot from Marvel’s Civil War and Secret War storylines (good), but liberties have been taken with the plot that are bound to annoy the hardcore (bad). As with its predecessors, you guide a team of four heroes through labyrinth corridors, defeating waves of enemies. There’s a wealth of characters to pick from a team-mates can be swapped on the fly.

Your Al pals, while competent can make dodgy decisions. Thankfully there’s four player, drop-in, offline and online co-op. The upgrade system has been simplified this time around, resulting either a weaker RPG experience or pure brawler, depending on your viewpoint. Defecting foes now builds up your Fusion bat; when full, hit (L2) and a corresponding button to perform a double team Fusion attack. There’s a huge variety of Fusion to be performed, but these room-clearing moves are too easy to learn.

The camera is still that bit too far away, making it easy to lose focus on who’s who in larger brawls. This highlights the game’s main flaw – there are little tactics required in combat. Blindly mashing (X) or (0) will get you out of any trouble. Overall, it’s fun, if familiar, experience. It’s the ability to swap your team-mates around freely and the diversity of Fusion attacks that carry the most appeal.